FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3517
You asked
This is an information request relating to the publication of inclusive language guides at ONS.
Please include the following information:
- Whether or not an inclusive language guide has been published in any of the past three calendar years, 2019, 2020 and 2021
- A copy of any such guide
- The estimated cost in staffing hours and finances to prepare such a guide
We said
Thank you for your request.
Writing and communicating in an inclusive way is central to the work we do at the ONS.
We do not hold a specific inclusivity guide as inclusivity is embedded throughout all of our writing guides.
For example, we have a section in the ONS Style Guide dedicated to Writing for the web, which covers plain English, accessibility and creating content that meets user needs. We have the Language and spelling page, which includes sections on Gender and Sex and Race and Ethnicity.
Our writing guides are living documents and they are updated regularly, based on feedback and user need. We are unable to estimate the costs of producing a separate guide as we currently have no plans to develop one.
The cost would depend on the scope and scale of the activity and the level of stakeholder engagement in the process.
We welcome any user feedback regarding our style guides. If you have any comments, please do get in touch with our publishing team via our contact centre at sharedcustomercontactcentre@ons.gov.uk.